Talking Dateline: Out of the Darkness

**SPEAKER_1** (0:00)
Insurance is not one size fits all. That's why drivers of trusted progressives name your price tool for years. Just tell Progressive what you want to pay, and they'll show you coverage options that fit your budget. Visit progressive.com to find a car insurance rate that works for you. Progressive Casualty Insurance Company and Affiliates. Price and coverage match, limited by state law. With no fees or minimums on checking accounts, it's no wonder that Capital One Bank Guy is so passionate about banking with Capital One.
If he were here, he wouldn't just tell you about no fees or minimums. He'd also talk about how Capital One cafes are open seven days a week to assist with your banking needs. Yep, even on weekends. It's pretty much all he talks about. In a good way.
What's in your wallet? Terms apply. I see capitalone.com/bankguycapitalone and a member FDIC.

**Andrea Canning** (1:02)
Hi, everyone, I'm Andrea Canning, and we are Talking Dateline. Our correspondent on this one is Josh Mankiewicz, and this is for his episode called Out of the Darkness.

**Josh Mankiewicz** (1:12)
Hello.

**Andrea Canning** (1:12)
Let's talk Dateline, Josh. Hey, how are you?

**Josh Mankiewicz** (1:15)
I'm good, I'm ready.

**Andrea Canning** (1:17)
One housekeeping item, if you haven't seen it, you can watch the episode on Peacock or listen to it in the Dateline podcast feed and then come right back here. Also, we will have an extra clip from Josh's interview with the victim, Bob Poynter's mother.
And then, Josh, you have a special Talking Dateline challenge for me. I'm excited about this.

**Josh Mankiewicz** (1:38)
Yes, I do. It's something we've discussed previously, although you've certainly forgotten about it. I actually forgot about it too, but it's going to be fun.

**Andrea Canning** (1:45)
Okay. I'm ready.
Before we dive into this episode, and I have a lot of thoughts, Josh, give us a very quick overview of what happened.

**Josh Mankiewicz** (1:57)
Well, this was in the 2016 in Royce City, Texas, sort of classic Texas small town. A young woman named Chacey Poynter, married to a fire captain who was considerably older. She was 29 I think he was like 46, 47, something like that.
She calls her husband because her jeep has gotten stuck on this muddy road. So he comes out there and he gets shot.
And from the beginning, you know, we see, we on Dateline, the viewers see this story unfold almost entirely via first responder and police body cams. And she's unspooling this story of what happened. And sort of from the beginning, she can't get her own story straight. I mean, first she says he doesn't know what happened. Then she saw a shadow. She saw a shadowy figure. Then it was a man. She didn't know who it was. Then later she does know who it is. It's this guy that she was having an affair with. I mean, it is a classic case of not just spousal murder, but of a murderer kind of not thinking about the story that they were gonna tell until the absolute minute they were telling it. And so you are left watching this and just kind of shaking your head. She was convicted and it's a terrible tragedy. And again, there's a thing called divorce.

**Andrea Canning** (3:35)
Yes, yes, that we mention often on this program.
So Josh, I have to say she had me at first, Chacey, because the way this show opens is very terrifying.
The out of breath, the nine one call, the running. I mean, it's like how every lifetime movie starts out. There's a woman running through the woods. And then when the call dropped out, I thought Chacey was done. I thought somebody was after her. Then I was so surprised to see that Chacey was alive and she was then talking to investigators eventually. And that's where her behavior really comes in and the breathing.

**Josh Mankiewicz** (4:14)
Yeah, the breathing.

**Andrea Canning** (4:15)
And then it would like, and then it would like stop, and then it would start again. And at first she kind of had me, but the more it went on, the more I started to say, this girl needs a Razzie.

**Josh Mankiewicz** (4:24)
Yeah, that wonderful top is courtesy of Jessica DeVera, who's a sensational producer here at Daylight.

**Andrea Canning** (4:29)
Yeah, she's amazing.

**Josh Mankiewicz** (4:30)
And you know, Jessica and I did this story, and like we didn't have a couple of the things that people usually have. Like we certainly didn't have an interview with her.

**Andrea Canning** (4:40)
You almost didn't need it though, Josh, because we had such a sense of her.

**Josh Mankiewicz** (4:44)
We had her telling this crazy story.